ABC Dominates Monday Night as ‘Dancing’ Premieres to Big Ratings

ABC got a strong performance from the two-hour season premiere of “Dancing With the Stars” and scored a big win for the night overall in Monday’s overnights, TVbytheNumbers.com reported.

ABC finished the night with a 4.5 average rating in adults 18-49, easily beating CBS (2.8 average), Fox (2.6), Univision (1.5) and NBC (1.4). ABC’s margin was even wider in total viewers, where the Alphabet Network averaged 19.1 million to CBS’s 8.8 million, Fox’s 7.8 million, NBC’s 5.5 million and Univision’s 4.1 million.

At 8 p.m. the first hour of "Dancing" had a 4.7 average rating in the 18-49 demographic, ahead of Fox’s “House” with a 3.4 average. CBS’s "How I Met Your Mother" and "Mad Love" had a 2.9 and a 2.3, respectively, in the same demo, ahead of NBC’s "Chuck" with a 1.5.

At 9 p.m. the second hour of "Dancing With the Stars" rose to a 5.6 in the 18-49 demo, while CBS’s "Mike & Molly" at 9:30 p.m. collected a 3.0. Fox’s "Chicago Code" earned a 1.9 in the same demo, and NBC’s "The Event" managed a 1.2.

The 10 p.m. hour was won by ABC’s "Castle" with a 3.3, followed by CBS’s "Hawaii Five-0" with a 2.9, both in the 18-49 demo. Trailing was NBC’s "Harry’s Law" with a 1.6 in the same demo.